If I consolidate 4 student loans into one, then the 4 are paid off. I have one new trade line. How would this effect scores?
It depends... Are the 4 accounts in good standing now? If so, your score would not really be affected that much either way. Probably stay the same. You may experience a momentary increase prior to the "new" loan showing up and the old loans showing "paid in full". Then the new loan would hit (usually takes 1-2 cycles), and your score would be about the same as before. If the loans are not in good standing, collections account, bad history, etc. a consoidation and 6 months of good history will definately increase your score, as the "bad" accounts will go from an I9 to 5, "paid in full" notation. The new account would have "good" payment history. Check out W D Ford for consolidation. They offer some really good permanent rate decreases based on 1 year of perfect payment history, and additional decrease if you use the auto-debit option. All told it equals about 1 point of interest decrease. They also have many different re-payment options that you can change as you situation changes. Hope this helps.
